Hey All,
I've been curious about something lately... looking at the components and design factors that go into high end audiophile gear. This in turn has got me thinking about converters, and what electronics and topologies are currently in use for the analog stage in the various high end converter units.
I'm working on a mic pre now based on the M990 gain block, custom Lundahl amourphous strip core transformers. Absolutely no electrolytic caps. Hard wired with solid core Belden. Stepped gain pot by DACT. Star grounding and power bypass caps located right on the gain block. The design is by Pat Morford.
http://www3.telus.net/public/vintage1/kit.htm and is a very minimalist circuit.
I mention this because, after going through the whole unit to ensure that the entire signal path of this preamp is A1, the last thing one would want to do is subject the signal to surface mount electrolytics and tiny IC's in the analog stage of the converter box... SO I'm looking for some advice on two well constructed channels of A/D conversion.
I've heard great things about Dan's converters, also Mytek, Prism, Dcs, Benchmark, Cranesong, Apogee, Meitner, EAR, Weiss. (realizing that there must, or at least should be differences between the $2000 units and the $8000 ones)
Could anyone offer some insight as to what components and topologies go into the design of these units?
Cheers,
Eric